The present invention generally relates to a head carriage apparatus, and more particularly to a head carriage apparatus suitable for a thin disk drive apparatus.
A disk drive apparatus for driving a magnetic flexible disk serving as a data storage medium has a head carriage apparatus, which moves a magnetic head in the radial directions of the disk.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional head carriage apparatus 10 of a two-sided type, which is installed in a disk apparatus for driving a 3.5-inch flexible disk. The head carriage apparatus 10 is generally composed of a carriage main body 11 and an arm 12, and is driven in the directions indicated by arrows A1 and A2 by a driving mechanism, which is composed of, for example, a belt and a screw (not shown for the sake of simplicity).
The carriage main body 11 is connected to the arm 12 by a leaf spring 12a. The flexibility of the leaf spring 12a varies the arm 12 in the directions indicated by arrows B1 and B2. Further, magnetic head 13 is attached to the arm 12, and the magnetic head 14 is slidably mounted to the carriage main body 11.
Meanwhile, a 3.5-inch flexible disk 16 is housed in a disk case 15, as shown in FIG. 2. The magnetic heads 13 and 14 are inserted into the disk case 15 via a head window 15a formed in the disk case 15, and comes into contact with the flexible disk 16.
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 2, the width L1 of the arm 12 of the head carriage apparatus 10 is set larger than the width L2 of the head window 15a, so that only the magnetic heads 13 and 14 are inserted into the disk case 15. Recently, it has been required to provide a thin and compact disk drive apparatus suitable for a thin and compact computer or the like.
However, the conventional head carriage apparatus 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a disadvantage in that the arm 12 cannot be inserted into the head window 15a because the width L1 of the arm 12 is set larger than the width L2 of the head window 15a. Thus, it is necessary to design the magnetic heads 13 and 14 so that they have larger heights H1 and H2 which make it possible for the magnetic heads 13 and 14 to come into contact with the flexible disk 13 and slide thereon. For example, when the disk case 15 is 3.3.+-.0.2 mm thick, the sum of the heights H1 and H2 (slider heights) is approximately equal to 3.5 mm. When a clearance regarding the disk case 15, the carriage main body 11 and the arm 12 is taken into account, the sum of the heights H1 and H2 is generally set to a value between 2.5 mm-2.7 mm.
The arm 12 is moved in the direction B1 shown in FIG. 1 by means of a mechanism (not shown for the sake of convenience) while the disk case 15 is loaded and ejected so that the magnetic heads 13 and 14 are prevented from coming into contact with the head window 15a. Thus, as the slider height increases, it becomes necessary to greatly move the arm 12 in the upward direction B1 in order to move the magnetic heads 13 and 14 away from the disk case 15. For this requirement, it is necessary to provide a large space necessary to move the arm 12 in the disk apparatus. Thus, it is difficult to provide a thin, compact disk drive apparatus.